Misdemeanor plea in fatal DWI case

A soon-to-be lawyer who was charged with intoxication manslaughter four years ago after he ran over a motorcyclist while driving home from a St. Mary's law school function instead pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

Although a blood test showed Chad William Schreiber, 27, to have an alcohol level of .13 — just more than 11/2 times the legal limit of .08 — police who responded to the scene were not sure that his intoxication was the cause of the wreck.

Prosecutors would have needed to convince jurors alcohol was the cause to have obtained an intoxication manslaughter conviction at trial, Assistant District Attorney David Henderson said Friday as the plea agreement was approved by County Court-at-Law No. 14 Judge Bill White.

“Ultimately ... there's no avoiding the fact that someone did die in this collision,” Henderson said as he asked the judge for the maximum sentence allowable for the new charge — six months in jail.

White is expected to determine Schreiber's sentence next month. Defense attorney Bobby Barrera pointed out that it's common for first-time DWI offenders to receive probation.

“Once we remove the emotional aspect from the situation, we have a Class B DWI, and one year probation is appropriate,” he said.

Schreiber was a first-year law student in September 2009 when he turned in front of motorcyclist Pamela Presas, 24, who lost control of her bike and slid under the wheel of his truck, according to police reports.

Presas also was intoxicated and would have avoided the accident altogether if she hadn't been speeding down Babcock Road, the defense indicated it was prepared to argue. Prosecutors disagreed, stating that it was unclear how fast she was going prior to the wreck.

Since the wreck, Schreiber has finished law school, passed the bar exam and now works at civil law firm Curney, Garcia, Farmer, Pickering and House.

However, he's still waiting for the Texas Board of Law Examiners to determine if he is fit to practice law.

“This (reduced charge) puts him in a significantly better position to get accepted,” Barrera said. “He is emotionally devastated as a result of the fact that — without regard to any criminal charges — he was involved in an accident that caused the death of this young lady.”